It’s true, you can make a huge impact on someone’s life with only $20. For the same price as a meal at your favorite restaurant you could fund an aspiring entrepreneur in a developing country and help them break the vicious cycle of poverty that puts a glass ceiling on what they can achieve.

In the 1980’s Muhammed Yunnus began studying societal trends in developing countries and had the incredible realization that by giving individuals small loans at fair interest rates, they could effectively lift themselves out of poverty. Today, there are over 3,600 micro lending institutions worldwide helping over 75 million people at any given moment.

Microcredit lending works in the same way as a traditional loan, only with smaller amounts of money. In third world countries, whose cost of living is often only a fraction of that in developed nations, it doesn’t take much capital to make a major difference. For as little as $100 (in certain countries), an aspiring entrepreneur can open a shop or purchase supplies to start a craft or food business and ultimately lift themselves out of poverty permanently.

The infographic below created by CreditScore.net provides an excellent explanation of the microcredit concept.